Feeding mechanism for punching-machines.



" PATENTED DEC. 11, 19 06.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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A. WILZIN; FEEDING MBGHANISM FOR PUNGHING MACHINES. PPLIOATIOH FILED [AB- 1, 1908. BEHEWED HOV-10' 1906- FIG. L

THE NORRIS Ps'rllzs cm, WA

\QTGLIESSEQ gal No. 838,292. PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.

A. WILZIN.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PUNCHING MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 1, 1906. RENEWED N0v.10. 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR:

WITNESSES:

No- 838,292. PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.

' A. WILZIN. FEEDING MEOHANISMFOR PUNGHING MACHINES.

APPLIOATIOH FILED HA3. 1, 1906. RENEWED NOV.10. 1906.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

FIG. 6. m4.

INVENTOR:

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ARTHUR WVILZIN, OF CLIOHY, FRANCE,- ASSIGNOR TO E. W. BLISS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 11, 1906.

Application filed March 1, 1906- Renewed November 10,1906. Serial No. 342,905-

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WILZIN, engineer, of 4 Rue Huntziger, Olichy, Seine, Re-

public of France, have invented an Imroved Feeding Mechanism for PunchinglIachines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a hand feeding device designed to insure an absolute contiguity of successive operations (thereby reducing waste material to a minimum) by means incapable of getting out of order and to carry out the operations in perfect quincuncial order, the device being such that the operative may remain always in the same place and position relatively to the machine.

The accompanying drawings show, by way of example, a practical construction of the device.

Figures 1 and 1 are halves of an elevation, and Figs. 2 and 2 halves of a plan, of a machine to which the invention has been applied. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line A A, Fig. 2. Figs. 4 to 6 show details-of ratchet mechanism, Fig. 4 being an elevation, Fig. 5 a plan, and Fig. 6 a crosssection on line B B, Fig. 5.

The feeding device comprises a carriage a, having grippers a, in which the sheet to be acted upon by the tool is clamped, the said carriage a being capable of displacement longitudinally upon a guide I), attached to sliding carriers 0, connected by a cross-bar c, said sliding carriers being movable in a transverse directionthat is to say, in a direction perpendicular to that of the carriage aand being guided by the trued edges (1 of the sur face plate or table (I.

In the use, for example, where the feeding device presents a sheet of metal to be subj ected to the action of the tool of a shearingmachine each displacement of the grippercarriage a upon the guide 5 is equal to the distance separating the centers of successive shearings of a single line, and-each displace ment of the carrier 0 is equal to the interval separating the cutting-lines.

The displacement of the carriage a along the guide bis controlled by hand through the medium of a hand-wheel e, which actuates, through multiplyin -gearing f g, a shaft 71, turning in two brac :ets, carried by the survided with a groove or spline, wherein is adapted to slide a feather of the bevel-wheel 'i in gear with a bevel-wheel j, integral with the toothed wheel 1c, the spindle upon which said bevel-wheels 9' 7c are keyed being carried by the cross-bar c of the carrier 0. The toothed wheel 7c meshes with a rack 1, attached to one side of the gripper-carriage a. The guide I) has at its extremities adjustable stops b 6 serving to arrest the movement of the carriage a at the end of 'its travel.

The amplitude of the displacements imparted to the carriage a along the guide I) is regulated by the following means: The guide I) is provided with teeth, so as to constitute a rack m. The dimensions of these teeth and also the distance between each tooth are each equal to half the distance between the centers of successive cuttings when, for example, it is desired to obtain cutting in quincunx order.

The guide I) may be provided, as seen in Fig. 4, with two sets of teethcorresponding to two intervals of different cuttings, and in order to change the intervals it suffices to turn over the guide I), which is simply pinned on the carriers 0. Moreover, the carriage a carries two pawls or dogs n 77/, movable about their respective axes n n and opposed to one another, so as to operate the one when the carriage a is shifted from right to left and the other when the carria e moves in the opposite direction. These dogs n n should be raised at the moment the carriage is shifted, and to this end they are respectively con nected with the two rods 0 0, which pass through the plate 1) and terminate in nuts q q, constituting adjustable stops. The plate 19 is attached to one extremity of the cable 7" of a flexible transmission, preferably of the Bowden type, whereof the other extremity is attached to lever 8, upon which a stop 15, formed by a roller carried by a plate 25 keyed upon a shaft 25, acts at each revolution of the shaft t, which controls the movement of the cutting-tool. In the Bowden type of transmission an inner very flexible cable is carried in a somewhat stiff outer casin which tends to .hold its drooped shape when the inner cable is pulled, and thus acts as a sort of unyielding guide for the flexible cable.

The displacement in the transverse direcface plate or table (1. This shaft h is pro- 1 tion of the carrier 0, upon which the guide I) with the racks .2, fixed to the carriers and slidable freely in guides of.

The transverse advance correspondin to the interval between successive cutting-llnes is regulated by a bolt 1, operated by means of hand-lever 2 and flexible Bowden wire 3, and which engages with the holes in a bar 4-, secured to the table (1. The bar 4 might have several series of holes corresponding to the different spacings between the cuttinglines. I The opening as well as the closing of the grippers a may be effected very rapidly by means of the handle 5.

The operation of the feeding device is as follows: When the tool is about to shear off a blank of metal, the operative turns the hand wheel 6 in such manner as to communicate a movement of translation to the carriage afor example, in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2. At this moment, the stop t having met the lever s, the two dogs n n are raised, and thereby allow the carriage a to move.

These dogs shortly afterward fall back into position, as soon as the stop t escapes from lever 8. When the dog it comes into contact with the next tooth of the rack m, the carriage e is stopped and subjects to the action of the tool that part of the sheet from which the next blank is to be struck. As soon as this blank is struck the stop engages the lever s afresh. The carriage a is thus freed, and the operative can impart a fresh displacement thereto, and so on until the carriage or completes its travel. At this moment the operative turns the hand-wheel u for the purpose of causing the carriers 0 to advance one division along the bar 4. Then he turns the hand-wheel e in the opposite direction, so as to guide the carriage a back from left to right. In this change in the direction of travel it is the dog a which becomes the active stopping member but, as will be seen in Fig. 4, the extremity of the dog a is above the extremity of the dog it on the edge of the tooth against which the latter abuts. The dog a only commences to act when its extremity has passed the interval which separates the tooth on which it rests from the next succeeding tooth. There is therefore time lost in its operation, and under these circumstances the starting-point of the fresh row of cuttings is opposite the middle of the interval separating the two last cuts of the preceding When the first cut of this new row is effected, the dog n is raised, as has been said above, andthe carriage a can receive a displacement from left to right until the dog n meets the next succeeding tooth, and so on until the carriage a arrives at the end of its travel. At this moment the operative again turns the hand-wheel u in order to advance the carriers 0 along the bar 4 and then turns the hand-wheel 6, so as to shift the carriage a from right to left, when there is produced a period of stoppage in the function of the dog n, as was previously explained in the connection with the dog a, so that the cuttings in this fresh row are opposite the middles of the'intervals separating the cuttings of the row just finished. When the carriers 0 have arrived at the end of their travel and when the last row of cuttings has been made, the carriers 0 are brought back to their starting-point either by hand or by means of a counterweight or any other means of retraction.

It results from the foregoing that the op.

erative is able to shift the sheet in front of the tool without moving himself either by turning the hand-wheel e to shift the carriage in a direction parallel to the front of the machine or by operating the lever 2 to free the guide I) and by turning hand-wheel u to shift said guide toward the tool, and in each of these displacements the position is always rigorously determined in an automatic man ner.

I claim 1. A means for feeding a sheet of metal or other material toward the action of a tool of any kind at strictly determined points which are particularly arranged in quincunx order, comprising: a carriage to which the sheet is secured, a movable guiding-bar upon which the carriage can be displaced a stationary guide perpendicular to this guiding-bar and upon which the latter can be displaced, a controlling-rack secured to the movable guide and having teeth the length of which as well as that of the intervals existing be tween these teeth is equal to half the distance separating the centers of the parts of the sheet which are to be acted upon by the tool, two dogs carried by the carriage and inversely arranged so as to alternately operate in both directions of travel and so mounted that when the one abuts against the side of one tooth of the controlling-rack, the other will rest upon the corresponding edge of this tooth; an automatic device operated from the machine and causing at the required mo ments the lifting of these dogs to take place.

2. A means for feeding a sheet of metal or other material toward the action of a tool of any kind at strictly determined points which are particularly arranged in quincunx order, comprising: a carriage to which the sheet is secured, a movable guiding-bar upon which the carriage can be displaced, a stationary guide perpendicular to this guiding-bar and upon which the latter can be displaced, a controlling-rack secured to the movable guide and having teeth the length of which as well as that of the intervals existing between these teeth is equal to half the distance separating the centers of the parts of the sheet which are to be acted upon by the tool, two dogs carried by the carriage and inversely arranged so as to alternately operate in both directions of travel and so mounted. that when the one abuts against the side of one tooth of the controlling-rack, the other will rest upon the corresponding edge of this tooth; an automatic device operated from the machine and causing at the required mo ments the lifting of these grippers to take place, a motion-transmitting device allowing to displace by operating a hand-wheel arranged in front of the machine, the carriage along its guiding-bar, another 1notion-transmitting device allowing to displace by operating a second hand-wheel arranged near to the preceding wheel the guiding-bar toward the tool, a controlling-bar carried by the sta tionary guide having holes or recesses the spacing of which corresponds to the spacing of the division-lines, a locking device operated from a distance by means of a lever located in the vicinity of the two driving handwheels.

3. A means for feeding a sheet of metal or other material toward the action of a tool of any kind at strictly determined points which are particularly arranged in quincunx order, comprising a carriage to which the sheet 1s secured, dogs adapted to limit the length of the successive movements, automatic means for lifting and dropping said dogs at determined intervals, and means for moving said carriage as said dogs are lifted.

The foregoing specification of my improved means for feeding sheets of metal and other material to a punching or like machine signed by me this 10th day of February, 1906.

ARTHUR WVILZIN.

WVitnesses:

H. O. COKE, MAURIoE H. PIGUET. 

